Object identification has received increased attention in recent decades. With increased popularity and reliance upon electronic devices and systems, it has been desirable to provide identification systems which may easily and quickly convey accurate information regarding an associated object without susceptibility to human errors.
One object identification arrangement utilizes radio frequency identification device (RFID) tags to communicate information regarding an associated object. The tags may be passive or active devices which communicate with an associated reader. The reader may provide an interrogation signal which results in the tags responding with identification information which may be received by the reader. Although applicable to some objects, tags are difficult to deploy in some cases, such as with printed images or magazine covers.
Barcoding is another commonly used process for product identification. Some barcode images may convey different types of information regarding an associated object. For example, the Universal Product Code (UPC) barcode image may provide manufacturer information as well as product information regarding a certain associated object in a plurality of vertical bars. A reader may be used to quickly and accurately retrieve encoded information from a barcode image regarding an associated product. The barcode image may be placed adjacent to and in optical communication with respect to the reader during a reading process.
More recently, other barcoding schemes have been introduced in an attempt to render more visually attractive barcode images. Some exemplary schemes transform the barcode image from an original shape into another form which may be accessed by sophisticated hardware and algorithms. For example, one scheme combines encoded data with a logo or other image providing a bi-level graphical representation containing the data which may be accessed by a reader. Although these arrangements may have relatively high data density, they have drawbacks of using digital signal processing of increased complexity and also modification of the original image which may be noticeable to a user. Other arrangements use a pattern of dots as opposed to vertical bars (e.g., vertical bars used in the UPC barcoding systems) in an effort to provide visually attractive barcode images. These arrangements have associated drawbacks of being highly visible to a user while including relatively low data content (e.g., a few bytes of data containing a uniform resource locator (URL)). At least some aspects of the disclosure provide improved barcoding apparatus and methods.